A princess

As Laila followed behind the other people and unboarded the plane, she felt her phone buzz multiple times. She grabbed the phone and saw that it was three messages from two different chats. Two of them were from Noah. The first one was telling her, "Ignore what Steve said. You weren't disturbing anything. He just talks too much. Have fun over there and I will call you when I head out for lunch." The second one added, "If you are busy or having fun when I call, don't worry about it and just ignore me. I already got to see your face. So, I am happy and reassured. I don't want to take away from your week with Maria."

Laila smiled at seeing Noah's messages and almost bumped into one of the other passengers from not paying enough attention to her surroundings as she was busy staring at the screen of her phone. Just in time she glanced up and saw that the person in front of her had stopped walking for some reason and she halted her pace as well while letting out a breath of relief. She was about to look at her phone again, to see who the second person was to message her, until the line suddenly started moving again. So, she put her phone away and didn't take it out again until they had reached the baggage claim area. Since she had to wait for the bags of their flight to be put on the carousel anyways, she might as well look at who the third message was from.

When she unlocked her phone Laila saw that the third message was from Maria. Again a smile was put on Laila's face as she read what her friend had sent her and saw what it came with. The message read, "Hey princess. Have you landed yet? My hands are shaking from excitement. So, hurry and get your butt over here. I have all your favourites ready and waiting." Attached to that message was a picture showing all the food that Maria had prepared for her for lunch. Everything on that table looked absolutely mouth-watering. Receiving this picture made Laila happy she had slept through the lunch call on the plane. No plane meal would be worth spoiling even a fraction of her appetite for that incredible spread.

Swiftly Laila typed a reply and attached a picture of her waiting by the baggage claim to show her friend how close they were to being reunited. She had typed, "This princess has forgotten to bring some servants along and is forced to claim her own baggage." Followed by an emoji that was rolling its eyes. Then she send a second message in which she had quoted Maria's message with the picture and said, "I would rate this experience 1 out of 5 but seeing your cooking ready and waiting for me, I put my hand over my heart and decided to refrain from my final judgement until I have had a chance of tasting those tasty treats."

Again Laila felt herself looking forward to the reply of her message. She had almost forgotten about their little running gag of calling her a princess but now that she had remembered, she would go for it for the full 100%. Playing the spoilt, little, arrogant princess was a role she was very skilled at playing. Since her friend was expecting that Laila, she would make sure not to disappoint. She would deliver with a proper entrance.

Not long after she had sent her second message, the first suitcases made it to the carousel and Laila had to start paying attention in order to spot her suitcase among all the others. As she moved closer to the rubber band to get a better look and scanned the suitcases one by one. After waiting for about five minutes, she saw her bag being pushed out of the opening to the carousel and jumped excitedly for spotting it. She walked over to a less crowded spot of the carousel and grabbed her large suitcase. She was about to lift it off the band when she recalled that she wasn't supposed to do any heavy lifting while pregnant. So, she stopped in the middle of her movement and looked to her sides for anyone who could help her.

Fortunately a kind-looking gentleman was ready to offer his help before she even had to ask. "Let me get that for you." He said as he smiled at her and reached out to grab the handle of her bag before it was taken for another lap on the carousel. "Thank you. I was looking for some help when you came to the rescue." The man chuckled and said, "Oh don't worry about it. What use do I have for these gym-grown muscles if I don't help out a beautiful lady lift a heavy bag when I can." After a brief silence he added, "BUT, if you want to thank me, I wouldn't say no to your number or taking you out for a drink."

With a look of hope in his eyes he glanced at Laila who smiled apologetically and let her belly and ring do most of the talking. She placed her hand over her loose fitted dress, just underneath her belly, in order to tighten the fabric and show off her baby bump. She held up her other hand in order to show him her wedding and engagement ring before she said, "I am sorry. I don't think that is a good idea." Immediately the man apologized and said, "Oh I'm sorry. Never mind. I didn't notice you were married and pregnant. Congratulations though." After that he escaped the awkward situation by walking away before claiming his own baggage and walking off into the crowd, assumingly to the other side of the carousel.

Under her breath she mumbled, "I guess the baggy outfit didn't manage to make me look unappealing, just misleading..." before she let out a soft sigh. She felt bad for the man but there was no better way for her to handle that situation. So, instead of contemplating about it, she pulled out the handle on her suitcase in order to walk to the taxi-stand.